The present invention concerns a paint roller assembly of the type having a frame on which a tubular, paint carrying roller, is carried.
In common use are roller frame assemblies on which paint laden rollers are rotatably carried for the painting of wall surfaces. The rollers are of a sleeve or tubular configuration for lengthwise installation on rotatable structure of the assembly. Paint rollers may rely on frictional engagement with a wire cage structure for retention. The wire members terminate in securement within sockets formed in circular end caps spaced along a spindle of the roller frame assembly.
Such roller frame assemblies are subject to failing to provide adequate frictional engagement with the inner wall of a paint roller with the result being gradual lengthwise displacement of the roller during use which necessitates stopping of a painting effort and repositioning of the roller back into place on the wire cage or other rotatable support. Such efforts contribute to an untidy painting operation and adds to the painting task at hand. A contributory factor is the failure of paint rollers to be a precise uniform inner diameter for snug engagement with the wire cap or other supporting structure. Long use of a roller can also cause loss of a snug fit with the roller frame assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,301 discloses removable end cap structure at 22 and 122 which is complex design and assembly with closures 32 and 132. An inner end cap at 120 has an annular array of ridges 144 each on a wall segment 140a to accept a roll end tool wherein a sleeve supporting cylinder 32 terminates in an annular row of resilient fingers 40 in place entirely about the cylinder end. U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,923 shows a lint removing tool having an end cap 48 with a continuous series of flexible fingers. U.S. Pat. No. 3,201,815 shows a lint removal tool wherein a pair of flexible arms are each provided with a flange for retention of a tubular core of a tape roll.